A Major Payne

The recent form makes that point even more clearly. Over its last six races, A Major Payne has finished 3rd, 5th, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, and 2nd — reading from oldest to most recent, the horse has been getting closer. Two runner-up finishes on the spin suggest a horse that is knocking loudly on the door. At Class 4 level — a solid middle tier of British racing, not the highest and not the lowest — it has run nine times without winning, which does raise the question of whether it is good enough to beat rivals at this grade, or whether something keeps going slightly wrong at the crucial moment.

Jockey Hector Crouch has partnered A Major Payne five times without a win, and trainer Michael Bell, whose Newmarket yard has sent out 45 winners already this season, will be well aware that the partnership has not yet clicked into a result. Bell is a respected operator — 45 winners in a season is genuine productivity, a sign of a yard firing on all cylinders — so there is presumably belief that this horse can eventually convert one of these near-misses into a victory.

The name A Major Payne might raise a smile, but finishing second twice in a row is genuinely agonising in racing. Someone, somewhere connected to this horse has watched it come up just short more times than they care to count. The shape of the recent form, though — improving, consistent, increasingly close — means that when it does finally win, and the statistics suggest it has every right to, the relief in the Michael Bell yard is going to be considerable.